


Martin

by FloreatCastellum



Series: Slice of Life One-Shots [34]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Harry being a good godfather, Jealousy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-03-08 01:09:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18885064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FloreatCastellum/pseuds/FloreatCastellum
Summary: Teddy thinks it's hilarious that Vic is dating Martin, and he definitely doesn't care or think about it at all. Ever.





	Martin

Martin. Fucking Martin. 

Teddy had known they were dating, of course, and he had burst out laughing when he heard because Martin was ridiculous, and a year younger than Vic, so obviously really immature and yeah he was a good Quidditch player, but there wasn’t exactly much going on in his head, was there? 

And it hadn’t bothered him, as such, it was just weird, and he’d enjoyed teasing Vic about it when he saw her in the Great Hall the next day. 

‘Heard you’ve been cavorting all over Gryffindor tower with someone who’s had too many bludgers to the head,’ he called as he passed. 

'Heard you’re a twat,’ she responded casually, without looking up from spreading jam on her toast. 

He’d just grinned, and headed to the Hufflepuff table, entirely unbothered. Except for the fact that throughout the rest of the day, when he should have been focusing on his NEWTs, the odd question of 'but why on earth Martin?' 

He supposed he was good looking, if you liked that white bread, vanilla, flobberworm, basic type of thing. Brown hair. Nice face. Big arms good for being a beater. A nice boy, is what his Nana would have called him. But he seemed like the type of boy that Nana’s did like - a nice young man, a handsome fellow, a decent chap.

'I always assumed you’d go for some kind of rock god to piss off your dad,’ he said, when they bumped into each other in the library.

She raised an eyebrow. 'Have you not met my dad? A rock god isn’t exactly alternative for him, is it?’

'Oh, right, so going out with a blank piece of parchment is the most rebellious path,’ said Teddy, following her as she slowly walked along the bookshelf, her long fingers brushing against the spines. 'Makes sense.’

'He happens to be very nice,’ she said, although he was sure she was biting back a smile.

'That’s all you need really, innit?’ he said. 'Nice. That’s what they say in all those steamy novels. She swooned over his massive niceness.’

She snorted, earning them a glare from Madam Pince. 'What have you been reading?’ she whispered, fighting back a giggle.

'Nights get lonely in the Hufflepuff dorms, do they?’

'Yeah, I wish I had a walking stereotype of a Gryffindor to date, like you do,’ he said.

'I’m going to tell Uncle Harry you’ve been saying mean things about Gryffindor,’ she said, and when he just laughed, she added, 'and that you’ve been reading steamy novels, apparently.’

'All right, all right, I’m going,’ he grumbled. 'I just want you to know that I’m here for you, and I hope he finds his personality soon…’

She smacked him with her list of books as he sniggered and sauntered away.

And so he’d continued, definitely not bothered, far more concerned with his NEWTs and what he was going to get Nana for her birthday and whether or not to tell Harry that he had seen James’s feet creeping along the corridor after hours on several occasions this term alone. Those were his priorities, rather than wondering why he had been so gleeful when he confiscated Martin’s fanged frisbee outside the charms classroom. In general, he barely thought of Martin and his big stupid head at all.

But then Easter had come, and bouncing between the Potters and Nana’s house he hadn’t thought of Vic or Martin at all, he’d been far more content to study and take the dog out and do some writing and occasionally wonder what on earth Martin ever had to say, until Sunday lunch at the Burrow.

'Might skip this one,’ he said, glancing up from his herbology textbook.

'You will not,’ said Andromeda sharply. 'It’s Easter Sunday, everyone will be there.’

'Oh. Oh yeah.’ He winced. 'As long as I’m not stuck babysitting all of the kids again?’

'I promise you’ll be at the grown ups table,’ she said soothingly, and with that vow he agreed.

And so he found himself, happily, sitting beside his godfather, laughing along to George and Ron teasing him, enjoying the delightful noise of what he was sure must be the biggest family in the country.

'Oh,’ he heard Molly call. 'Here’s Bill and Fleur, how are you all-?’

He looked up, smiling, and then felt a rush of uncharacteristic fury. 

There he was, grinning like a moron, fucking Martin, holding hands with Vic.

_Oh fuck off fuck off fuck off fuck off fuck-_

'Everyone, this is Martin,’ Vic said giddily. 'Martin, come and meet everyone.’ She led her boyfriend around the table, and he was all smiles and firm handshakes, clearly keen to make a good first impression, cracking lame jokes about never being able to remember all these names haw haw haw…

’-And you know Teddy, of course, and this is Uncle Harry-’

Martin leaned over Ted so quickly, and with such force that Ted’s chair nearly toppled backwards as he jerked his head out of the way of Martin’s advancing, massive fist.

'Mr Potter, so exciting to meet you, I’ve heard so much-’

'Pleased to meet you,’ said Harry diplomatically.

'It’s really so amazing to meet you,’ Martin blurted out. 

'Likewise,’ said Harry, and Teddy made sure that he saw him rolling his eyes. Harry was definitely biting back a grin by the time Martin had been dragged away by Victoire, and he casually opened a beer bottle for Ted. 'Didn’t realise she was dating,’ he said. 'Did you know?’

'Yeah,’ said Teddy, surprised at his own grumpiness. He waited until he was sure Martin and Vic were out of earshot before saying, 'Martin’s an idiot.’

'Is he?’ asked Harry mildly. 'He seemed nice.’

'He’s the Gryffindor beater, I think his brain cells are often outnumbered by the number of bludgers on the pitch,’ muttered Teddy.

'Hey now,’ shot George from across the table. 'It’s a fine position, and a fine house. You’re skirting pretty close there, mate.’

'Sorry,’ said Ted quickly, despite knowing George was just teasing. 'He is an idiot though.’

'Ah, I’m sure he’s not,’ said George. 'Must have something about him if she’s introducing him to this mad bunch.’

He glanced over at them; she was introducing Martin to his grandmother, who was laughing politely at something. He moodily reached for the beer Harry had opened for him. 'Yeah, I guess,’ he said, before taking a sip. 'What?’ he added, a little aggressively; his godfather was smirking slightly at him.

'Nothing.’

Immediately feeling incredibly guilty for snapping, he blurted out a 'thanks’ for the beer, and Harry chuckled. He kept glancing at Vic and Martin all the way through the meal, and George’s words were ringing in his head and weirdly so was Harry saying 'likewise’ and he couldn’t figure out why he was so angry that Vic was dating such a boring drip.

'Teddy,’ said Harry, jerking him out of his thoughts. 'Your colour’s gone. You’re all sandy brown again.’

'Oh, has it?’ He raised a hand and touched it, as though he could feel the colour, and shook his head slightly, returning it to the pastel pink he was favouring recently.

'You all right?’ 'Yeah. Must just be tired or coming down with a cold or something.’

'Must be,’ said Harry, still with that slight smirk.

To his great annoyance, after the meal, while the kids ran around upstairs shrieking like banshees and the adults milled around in the kitchen and living room, Martin and Victoire came and stood with Ted, Harry and Ron. Martin was still stupidly star struck, and Teddy didn’t bother to hide his yawn as he peppered Harry with questions about Voldemort, earning a cool glare from Vic.

But perhaps Victoire was getting bored too, for she finally interrupted her boyfriend’s rambling about everything he had learned about the war with a quick, 'Martin’s thinking of being an auror, aren’t you, Martin?’

'Yeah,’ said Martin eagerly. 'We’ve been having career talks this year, and I’m doing the right subjects, I guess I’ll just need to get the grades-’

'Well, think about it carefully,’ said Harry in a measured voice. 'I have very much enjoyed my career, but I rarely feel comfortable recommending it to others.’

'I’ve been thinking about being an auror too,’ Teddy blurted out, before Martin had the chance to respond. He felt Harry turn his head slowly to look at him, and Vic raised an eyebrow, looking a little unsettled.

'Have you?’ she asked, her inflection rising. 'That’s new, isn’t?’

'Oh, no, he’s been on about it for a while,’ said Harry casually. He gestured to Martin with his beer bottle. 'But just as I’ve been desperately trying to get Teddy to understand, it’s not the glamorous work people imagine it to be. Very few come out of it undamaged, and then of course there’s all the paperwork.’

'Yeah, it’s all right for me because I could just morph away any scars,’ said Teddy, who had no idea if that was even possible. 'But the amount of paperwork he brings home really puts me off. I dunno, still thinking about it.’

'You just seem too gentle to be an auror,’ said Vic, and then she blushed. 'Not in a bad way-’

'Well lots of it is about being gentle,’ said Harry. 'You know, having to go and break the news of someone’s grisly murder to their mum, you’ve got to be quite emotionally intelligent for that sort of thing.’

Martin blinked, horrified. 'That’s… That’s an aurors job? They’re the ones that have to do that? They can’t send someone else, from Law Enforcement or-’

'Oh no,’ said Harry. 'It’s only right, isn’t it? You’re the one who’s going to be doing the investigating, you’re the one who’s going to have to question the whole family. There’s a lot more of talking to people than fighting.’ He gave a reproachful glare at Ted. 'Though as I say repeatedly, I’d rather my godson went and did something that involved no fighting at all.’

Teddy gave a shrug and rolled his eyes as though he’d heard it a million times before, and was very grateful when Victoire, still looking very confused, was called away by Molly.

The moment she and Martin were gone, Harry turned to Teddy, his shoulders shaking with laughter. 'You’ve never wanted to be an auror. Except for when you were really small and you had that little costume.’

'I know,’ said Teddy quickly, his cheeks burning red immediately. 'I have no idea why I said that, thank you for covering for me - I… I dunno, it just came out, I don’t know why-’

'I do,’ said Harry casually. 'You’re jealous.’

Teddy scowled. 'Of Martin? He can go and be an auror if he wants - assuming he manages to walk through the right door for his interview.’

'Mmm,’ said Harry, drinking from his beer. Then he shrugged, grinning. 'I wouldn’t worry - it’ll come to you eventually. What you need to do is walk in on them snogging.’

Ted scrunched his nose up in bafflement as his godfather walked away. 'What?’

He saw the back of Harry’s head tilt and his beer bottle rise as he called. 'That’ll be what does it, Ted.'


End file.
